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Some of these steps are resource-intensive and would require additional investment. And there you have it. The "money quote" in both the literal and metaphoric

Some of these steps are resource-intensive and would require additional investment. And there you have it. The "money quote" in both the literal and metaphorical sense. Of course the Military / Espionage / Industrial Complex community is going to try to keep paranoia about "UAP's" and "UFO's" stoked... as long as they can use that to justify more $$$ flowing into their coffers. They have to play a delicate balancing act though: stoke just enough fear to keep the money flowing, but not so much that anybody starts demanding they actually deliver anything measurable with that money. Nice gig if you can get it. The sensors mounted on U.S. military platforms are typically designed to fulfill specific missions. As a result, those sensors are not generally suited for identifying UAP. Anybody want to team up on a new startup focused on "UAP sensors" and sell them to the government for $43,927.33 each?

jablongo 5y ago
It's also wrong to characterize is as fear mongering, since most people who are seriously pushing disclosure for this stuff are more likely driven by curiosity and accountability than fear. Ironically, Mick West, one of the most well known skeptics on this topic, had a paralyzing fear of aliens as a child...
raw-23 5y ago
While you are not wrong about organizations trying to obtain a larger budget, but it it a fallacy to assume a priori this is the case. Regardless, the budget required to research UAPs would be a drop in the bucket for what is spent on defence. There are much more efficient ways to attract tax payer money. Contrarily if they truly are observing things they cannot explain should there not be money allocated towards researching this? If not only for air safety of the pilots and crew.
jablongo 5y ago
While I agree w/ you that the Military Industrial Complex as an entity will do almost anything to justify increasing funding, I think this is a cynical take on this particular issue and is attempting to explain something we don't fundamentally understand with something we do - military budget increases. Unless the DoD fabricated the videos, and duped radar operators and pilots, or faked the whole thing in some way, this is a seriously interesting phenomenon ...regardless of whether it aligns with the military's insatiable appetite for more funding. Remember, Luiz Elizondo resigned because the ATAP program had insufficient funding (22M) given what he thought he was uncovering.
- mindcrime 5y ago
  I'm not (necessarily) accusing them of faking the observations. But I wouldn't put it past them to take something that has (mostly or totally) prosaic / boring explanations, and keep the "air of mystery" going just enough to where people never quite get the answers they are looking (hoping?) for, and are willing to keep funding their research as a side effect.
  - jablongo 5y ago
    There are probably some officials with this outlook, but you have to admit it is very sudden change in strategy after years of vehemently denying everything, and it in no way explains the footage or accounts which are the actual topics of interest here.
DoreenMichele 5y ago
You are accusing the government of intentionally "stoking" paranoia for publishing their data. Elsewhere in this same discussion, someone is promoting their theory that publishing it on a Friday is designed to intentionally get as little press coverage as possible. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27636564 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27636564 Maybe it's just data gathered for security reasons and published in a somewhat sanitized format to satisfy public interest in the data while protecting national security. The government publishes a lot of data. It's the public that makes the few anomalies in this particular data set into some kind of weird thing for reasons the government cannot control no matter how carefully they frame the whole thing.
- mindcrime 5y ago
  You are accusing the government of intentionally "stoking" paranoia for publishing their data. No I'm not. I'm accusing the Military / Espionage / Industrial complex of stoking paranoia in order to get other parts of the government to give them more money. Elsewhere in this same discussion, someone is promoting their theory that publishing it on a Friday is designed to intentionally get as little press coverage as possible. There's absolutely no reason that both of those things can't be true simultaneously. See above about the "delicate balancing act" that the gomers have to carry out to keep getting more money, without actually providing anything of value. Maybe it's just data gathered for security reasons and published in a somewhat sanitized format to satisfy public interest in the data while protecting national security. Sure, and maybe there is a tiny teapot in orbit between Earth and Mars. *shrug*

jablongo 5y ago

It's also wrong to characterize is as fear mongering, since most people who are seriously pushing disclosure for this stuff are more likely driven by curiosity and accountability than fear. Ironically, Mick West, one of the most well known skeptics on this topic, had a paralyzing fear of aliens as a child...

raw-23 5y ago

While you are not wrong about organizations trying to obtain a larger budget, but it it a fallacy to assume a priori this is the case. Regardless, the budget required to research UAPs would be a drop in the bucket for what is spent on defence. There are much more efficient ways to attract tax payer money. Contrarily if they truly are observing things they cannot explain should there not be money allocated towards researching this? If not only for air safety of the pilots and crew.

jablongo 5y ago

While I agree w/ you that the Military Industrial Complex as an entity will do almost anything to justify increasing funding, I think this is a cynical take on this particular issue and is attempting to explain something we don't fundamentally understand with something we do - military budget increases. Unless the DoD fabricated the videos, and duped radar operators and pilots, or faked the whole thing in some way, this is a seriously interesting phenomenon ...regardless of whether it aligns with the military's insatiable appetite for more funding. Remember, Luiz Elizondo resigned because the ATAP program had insufficient funding (22M) given what he thought he was uncovering.

mindcrime 5y ago
I'm not (necessarily) accusing them of faking the observations. But I wouldn't put it past them to take something that has (mostly or totally) prosaic / boring explanations, and keep the "air of mystery" going just enough to where people never quite get the answers they are looking (hoping?) for, and are willing to keep funding their research as a side effect.
- jablongo 5y ago
  There are probably some officials with this outlook, but you have to admit it is very sudden change in strategy after years of vehemently denying everything, and it in no way explains the footage or accounts which are the actual topics of interest here.

DoreenMichele 5y ago

You are accusing the government of intentionally "stoking" paranoia for publishing their data. Elsewhere in this same discussion, someone is promoting their theory that publishing it on a Friday is designed to intentionally get as little press coverage as possible. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27636564 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27636564 Maybe it's just data gathered for security reasons and published in a somewhat sanitized format to satisfy public interest in the data while protecting national security. The government publishes a lot of data. It's the public that makes the few anomalies in this particular data set into some kind of weird thing for reasons the government cannot control no matter how carefully they frame the whole thing.

mindcrime 5y ago
You are accusing the government of intentionally "stoking" paranoia for publishing their data. No I'm not. I'm accusing the Military / Espionage / Industrial complex of stoking paranoia in order to get other parts of the government to give them more money. Elsewhere in this same discussion, someone is promoting their theory that publishing it on a Friday is designed to intentionally get as little press coverage as possible. There's absolutely no reason that both of those things can't be true simultaneously. See above about the "delicate balancing act" that the gomers have to carry out to keep getting more money, without actually providing anything of value. Maybe it's just data gathered for security reasons and published in a somewhat sanitized format to satisfy public interest in the data while protecting national security. Sure, and maybe there is a tiny teapot in orbit between Earth and Mars. *shrug*